Bruce Anderson

Bruce Anderson is the Chairman and CEO of 247Solar Inc. of Great Falls, Virginia. This firm is commercializing a modular, coal-competitive concentrated solar power (CSP) system based on two clean-energy technologies invented at MIT: an ultra-efficient industrial heat exchanger and an ultra-efficient microturbine. This system, the 247 Solar Plant, is designed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of the weather, at costs competitive with fossil-fuel-generated electricity. 247Solar is an MIT-related spin-off enterprise launched by Ignite Technology Ventures, an incubator Bruce founded in 2000 to commercialize MIT technologies.

Bruce began his clean-energy career more than four decades ago in 1973 when he completed his MIT masters-degree thesis in architecture on applications of solar energy to building design. By age 30, this manuscript had been published in 1977 as the professional book "Solar Energy: Fundamentals in Building Design" and as the bestselling popular book, "The Solar Home Book." Both books were translated into several languages. He has also authored or co-authored several other energy books.

During the mid-1970s, Bruce founded T.E.A. Inc., which became a world-renown architecture and engineering firm and founded and published Solar Age, the industry-leading magazine. In 1985, he became the first recipient of the American Solar Energy Society’s Lifetime Solar Contribution Award. He was a founding director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (then known as the New England Solar Energy Society), served on the National Advisory Board of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now the National Renewable Energy Institute, or NREL), and has testified twice before the US Congress on energy matters. He also ran for governor of New Hampshire in 1986 — at a time when he was often referred to as “Mr. Solar.”

In 1990, working with Earth Day founder Senator Gaylord Nelson, Bruce co-founded Earth Day USA to convert the event from a 10-year anniversary celebration to an annual international event. He was also the founding co-chair of the New England Clean Energy Council in 2008 and the 2011 recipient of its Clean Energy Leadership Award. At MIT Bruce served as Visiting Professor and as Director of its Industrial Liaison Program from 1995 to 2000. He has also served as president of the MIT Alumni Club of Boston and as a director on the International Board of the MIT Alumni Association. He is president of the MIT Crew Alumni Association and, since 2013, he has served as a member of the MIT Corporation — its board of trustees.

He received both a Masters and a Bachelor of Architecture degree and a Bachelor of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, all from MIT.